Eastside take Golds & Silvers
At East Midlands Box Cup
Friday July 28th, Fourteen amateur boxers and their trainers head off from Eastside gym in search of gold at the East Midlands regional Box Cup at the Meres Leisure centre Grantham. Over 3 gruelling days of boxing these intrepid fighters fought their way to taking home 6 golds and 6 silver medals and also winning the team award in their last show of the season. This team of fighters have etched there names in Eastside history and I'm sure their team photo will hang proudly in the Eastside gym.
I caught up with some of the Eastside trainers to find out what they thought about how their amateurs had done.
Steve Gee said "All I can say mate is that it was a phenomenal weekend, every member of Eastside played their part, the coaches the boxers and their families. All the hard work paid off, we all help each other and got the job done. Every boxer gave 100% and did all that was asked of them. To win the Team award really was the icing on the cake and on a personal note I made my ring debut and finally emulated my dad who was also a coach, so all in all a great weekend”.
Paul Couniham also said “Yes mate we entered 14 in box cup and 12 got medals 6 gold and 6 silver and Dylan Cogan should of definitely got gold”.
We also talked to Eastside's professional trainer/manager and proud father of Joe Pegg how he felt about their achievements at the boxes Cup? He informed me "I'm very happy mate all the boxers were great and to pick up the team trophy was a big achievement".
Gold Winners
Joseph Pegg
Joe Collins
Scott Melvin
Tori Ellis Willet
Ashton Wareham
Finley Ballentyne
Silver Winners
Dylan Cogan
Jack Byrne
Louie Blundell
Tommy Collins
Ashley Archer
Abdul Samad
Dexter's Thoughts
This speaks volumes for the hard work and dedication put in by the amateur trainers and coaches at a Eastside gym in preparing their amateurs, but the main credit has to go to the amateurs themselves. Having 3 fights over 3 days to win silver and gold medals in a end of season competitions is a amazing achievement for this group of young talented fighters. Their is more than just boxing skill needed to do this kind of competition as mental agility and physical fitness will be tested to the limit. For the Eastside team to be able to win 6 gold and 6 silver and have 2 other fighters in the semifinals shows the quality and determination of their amateurs and I don’t think Jon Pegg will have far to look for his next generation of pros.
I look forward to reporting on more amateur boxing and will be looking forward to interviewing some of these young inspirational fighters in the future.
Many thanks to Tina Counihan for the edit pictures to complete this artical.